We headed over to Elm Creek, NE to have a look at the now closed auto museum, Chevyland U.S.A.. The cars are now being auctioned off online at www.bigiron.com April 29th to May sixth. The place was opened in the 1970's and its hello day was the 1980's to 1990's. The place has been closed for a long time. There are a ton of old Chevy's, plus numerous other makes and designs of cars.
Exploring A Closed & Abandoned Auto Museum Full Of Classic Cars. Contents Going Up For Auction,
I stopped here some years ago and paid the fee to go through the museum. I and the owner were the only ones in the building. I had a fun conversation with him. I am surprised to see the place and the cars so cleaned up. When I was there the front office was jampacked with all kinds of nostalgic things and the museum and cars were dirty and run down. I felt bad because I could sense the love and pride the owner had for his collection, but his ability to keep the place up had obviously passed with age. This was one of those stops, though, that I was very glad to have made; I got in on the tail end of one man’s dream that had become reality. I took some time to try and envision what opening day must have been like with everything new and shiny. For a brief moment I believe I saw a glimps of the past, and along with that glimps came respect and grattitude for an old man who had spent years passionatly accumulating the ingrediants that made my unexpected visit a joy!
Its your reply or story of him that makes a video good or bad. Now its better because of your insight and sharing. Anyone can walk around with a camera.
What a great comment. Thank you for sharing your visit with the owner.
There all works of 🎨 🖼 art
Wherenis this museum situated.As a owner of the vintage car i would like to know more of it..
68-69 vettes had round signal lights. The only visible difference was in the door handles. 68s had a button that contained the lock and you pushed to open the doors. On 69s, you just squeezed the handle. (The door lock was mounted flush) on the interior, 68s key was on the dash, 69 it was on the column. (Thats a good way to identify a BUNCH of 68s over 69s)
@Lyle Johnston true..but many were easily changed…the doors were a different matter….
In ’69, the back-up lights were integrated into the tail lights where in ’68 they were under the rear bumpers. As I recall, this ’69 Vette had only 9,000 miles on it when I visited in the late ’70s.
Omg i can’t believe i stumbled across this ! In 1982 i drove to Colorado with my friend Joe. We saw this place and stopped . It was a nice sidetrip on a long drive . The video looks just like I remember it
very cool man………..
During the 60s, my folks had 3 Chevys. One very rare model – only made for a couple years – was Mom’s ’61 Corvair Lakewood station-wagon. In the nearly 60 years since, I’ve only seen 4 or 5 of those!
Then in ’65, Mom got a new Corvair Monza 4-door sedan, with a powerglide shift on the dash.
Finally, by ’68, my folks went car-shopping for something bigger. I wanted them to get the brand-new yellow Impala convertible we saw in the showroom.
So, of course, they bought a leftover ’67 Chevelle Malibu Concourse station-wagon. I’m sure it was cheaper than that new convertible! Along with a 327-4V with powerglide, the wagon had a most of the deluxe wagon options – electric tailgate window (but only manual side windows) woodgrain side panels, chrome roof-rack, and even factory AC. But I remember it had one rare option I’ve never seen in another ’60s Chevelle – a factory Delco AM/FM radio!
Those were nice cars…
Holy cow man! That is Insane! Thank you so much for sharing. I can’t believe this!
Thanks for watching!
The “Brodie Knob”, “suicide knob”, “stunt knob” all different names for the steering wheel knob, was Designed by Joel R. Thorp of Wisconsin in 1936 to make steering faster for quick maneuvers, especially on tractors, big advantage backing up as you could do things with your other arm. Illegal on cars and trucks nearly everywhere. Come factory installed on some tractors yet today.
Those steering knobs were outlawed in a lot of states (unless you were medically handicapped) due to injuries to the drivers hands. If you let go of the knob after making a turn. The strong steering wheel spin-back in older cars with the knob sticking up could injure or break your hand if you didn’t lift your hand far enough away. Thus the possibility of causing a traffic accident.
Thank you for taking the time and effort in making this video, I enjoyed it.
The first car, Silver Corvette, this may be a ’68. Note at 3:52 the imprint on the side window behind the mirror stating “Astro Ventilation”.
Second car, 1958 Impala, this engine is a surprise because it’s a rare big block 283 referred to as a W-series engine. This is one of four in a series and is called the Super Turbo-Thrust featuring three two-barrel carburetors and 280 horsepower.
Third car, VW convertible, as I recall the first two years of the Super Beetle didn’t have the curved windshield. This one appears to be a Super Beetle due to the trunk lid being larger at the front than would be on the regular Beetle.
The ’65 Impala bank heist car is interesting because it happened when this car was brand new and the story has followed it over it’s life of 55+ years to this point. And, wouldn’t you just know that a rental car would come through with black wall tires and hub caps rather than wheel covers. I understand that hub caps were actually standard on Impala’s though just about all of us think wheel covers would be standard.
I never understood the fascination with fender skirts or continental kits. The only fender skirts that look right to me are the ones that are built into the body such as with Cadillac’s.
The 283 was never a big block. The engine is a 348 tri-power. Only the 348 and 409 had those distinctive valve covers.
@Eustace T Check the history stats. The info is there. I used to think the same thing.
I know that the “W” codes were big blocks, but the blocks and heads were new designs for heavier cars and trucks. What is the connection to the 283? I had never heard that.
@Chuck Ragsdale I referenced it as follows-
Use:
https://duckduckgo.com/
type in:
Chevrolet Engines 1958
It was early on in the listings but I don’t recall the exact site.
More places like this will be going up for auction. Young people could care less .
or couldn’t care less
Sad but very true.
buy what nobody else wants, thats how it works. Nobody anywhere wanted an old station wagon until the 90s.
The 28 coupe is exactly like my buddies dad’s. He worked for an old lady after school on her lawn and around the property in 1957-59. He told her he wanted to buy it but she was still driving it. A few years later he got a job at a factory and didn’t do her yard work any more but he kept in touch and one day she called and said she didn’t feel safe driving anymore and for him to bring $90.00 and take it home (1962). He had it a year or so and she called and asked if he wanted to buy her sister’s car. She said it was exactly like hers down to the paint colors but it had wood spoke wheels. That one cost him $100.00 as it was nicer than the first one. My buddy was born in 1964 and the hospital bill was $125.00 which he raised by selling the first coupe. He still has the wood spoke one.
Appreciate the story!
I visited here in 2017 on a cross country trip. Loved it. It was obvious then that the original guy’s love for the cars and museum were not carrying thru to the newer generation.. that’s not a criticism… different people like different things. I figured it would be getting closed down and auctioned off. I was there for about 2 hours and was the only person in the place. It really had an interesting mix of cars and it’s a shame it’s going away.
Really nice collection, definitely worth a lot of money.
My heart goes out to people saving our history so well.
I’m not a Chevy man but, I love to see these pieces of our history preserved.
Decades ago there were more and larger bugs that splatted on the windshield so bug deflectors helped. Love the blue Chev with 396.
So much history, so many memories, and alot of money sitting right there!
I can tell that you know your classic cars! I was thinking some of the same things you pointed out. You even identified the 70’s era bug deflector, haha.
Great place and the owners were so polite. Been there three times!
Quite a mash up of different vehicles. Lots of fun cars I remember from when I was a teen in the early 80s. Shame it is shut down.